THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters.

A collection of essays about poetry which provides reviews of a range of American and English poets, including Kenneth Koch, Jon Ashbery, and Ogden Nash, and offers criticism of the processes that inspired their work

A poetry critic of the first rank, novelist and poet Disch takes a look at the contemporary American poetry scene in this collection of essays and reviews. He calls for "the disestablishment of poetry workshops as an academic institution," arguing that they encourage indolence, smugness and a special sense of entitlement. Disch provides astute takes on Kenneth Koch ("some of the most pulverized poetry in the English language"), Kathleen Raine's wrestling with the Neoplatonic angel of her soul and the minimalist verse-novels of Mark Jarman and David Budbill. Along with perceptive critiques of Anthony Hecht, John Ashbery, Rita Dove, Kenneth Fearing, Galway Kinnell and Marilyn Hacker, he appraises Frederick Turner's neglected science-fiction dystopian epic poem, "The New World" (1985), and ponders the cautionary tale of "beatnik guru" Charles Olson, whose "professional life was one long applications grant."
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Balding, bearded, and burly, his tattooed forearms folded defiantly across his chest, Disch stares out from the dust jacket like a bartender telling a customer he can't have any more, and his prose reads the same. There are critics who find something of value in everything they read, but Disch, the author of nearly 30 books of poetry and fiction (The Priest: A Gothic Romance, LJ 3/15/95), isn't one of these. He hates as prodigiously as he loves. "There are simply too many poets and too little time to read them all," he writes, and the critic's job, as he sees it, is to praise and damn in equal measure; otherwise, "Gresham's law is bound to kick in" and "bad poetry will drive out good." A lively writer, Disch is guaranteed to provoke, though in the end his pronouncements seem more a matter of personal temperament than of rock-hard right and wrong. For specialized collections.?David Kirby, Florida State Univ., Tallahassee
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.